Better Late Than Never

It's just been one of those years. The Austin Marathon and Half-Marathon is tomorrow and I've just now sat down to start my pe-race rituals. Yesterday, there was no time to get out of the office and grab a pre-race ritual favorite of pho soup. Pho soup the Friday before the race has been the norm since as long as I can remember. It didn't happen so I'm going to eat it after the race to repair the immune system. It's not like I'm superstitious like a baseball player who grabs his jewels each time he enters the batter's box or the pitcher who grabs four ounces of dirt on the mound with only three of his fingers, followed by a touch of cap's bill with a turn to the right twice and left once. No, no been there, done that. And... my superstitions were mostly related to underwear anyway but TMI, that was then, this is now.

This week the spring session of the run/walk program kicked off with new curriculum. Yep, had to develop that and write it all up. Last session somehow the program got the 5K and 10K workouts all mixed up, plus I think a few marathon workouts were included as people who were part of the 5K program asked in week three if the prescribed one hour, forty-five minute run was mandatory. Slight overkill for the 5K race training I think, as the total time running, even for turtles is only 40 minutes long.

The there was the end of football season. It just hung there like one of my dog's green clouds. Will Favre really retire? Another green cloud of a different sort. There were still articles to read and write even though the season was over. So yesterday, part of me was trying to get into marathon-race mode, the other half of me needed to tie up the loose ends and finish the last football article until August.

Today, one day before the race the emotions are starting to kick in. The weather looks like it's going to be perfect. It'll start at 45-degrees, get sunny and then at the end of the afternoon be somewhere around 70-degrees. By that time I'll be chowing on some pho soup and drinking a Michelada, or two.

Thanksgiving 2008

This year's Thanksgiving day was expected to be different. I wasn't just that Mom had passed away last month. That was weighing heavily in the background of everyone's thoughts. It was going to be different because we were doing a neighborhood dinner this year. Several families splitting up the cooking duties and gathering say around 5-ish to eat.

While the day went somewhat as expected, overall it was a good one to remember. The best part of the day had to be playing football pass and catch with the neighborhood kids. There's something that's ingrained in American psychi to watch, throw or play football on Thanksgiving. My arm and shoulder are sore, real sore this morning. The other good part was watching UT dominate A&M. The worst part was not having Mom there to be with us. The other bad part was when we all sat down to eat, a couple who had already eaten elsewhere lit up a couple cigs and hovered within breathing distance. I was about to say something but didn't. The energy at that moment would've changed more than if I kept quiet and bit my tongue.

The kids all had a blast playing football into the evening. One of the teenagers showed me how Daunte Culpepper holds the ball to pass. It looked and felt awkward with the pointer finger on the tip of the football but it worked. Perfect spirals. It felt weird and looked weird but it worked. I threw until I couldn't throw any more balls and knowing my arm was going to be a wreck the next morning.

I sign of aging is the need for me to warm up my arm to throw even the first ball 15 feet. I tried to suck it up and get the ball there with some pain but dang. The littlest ones were chunking the pigskin with no problem and here I was swinging my arm around trying to get it loose enough to throw a decent ball. Next time I might have to say I'll meet them out there in about 15 minutes so I can excuse myself to the bedroom to do my warmup exercises. Or I could make the argument Oakland A's Barry Zito incorporates an elaborate warmup before throwing a single pitch and that I'm following that program. That sounds pretty lame now that I think about it. I think knowing I'll be throwing the football that day I should exercise before all the baking starts and everything will take care of itself.

The food came out pretty good. While the house had smells throughout the day,it was the same as more of what we did was the baking. I missed the other smells. It was good to try it out the neighborhood feast as I'm sure the first Thanksgiving was something similar. Next year I think we'll be in a cabin somewhere near a lake or stream for fishing with a football to practice the Duante Culpepper grip.